Choice Gold Hospitality Award

Hotels that achieve the prestigious Gold Award represent the top 10% of hotels within each Choice brand. The awards are based on a ranking system that measures guest satisfaction, product quality, room condition and cleanliness, and staff service. These properties have a proven track record of providing exceptional guest service and facilities.

Pianist/Vocalist Barry Cuda grew up playing rag and stride piano, and eventually added blues (post graduate listening live to Little Brother Montgomery and Sunnyland Slim). In the mid 70s he discovered Professor Longhair and James Booker and as he puts it, It was all over"! He has spent the last 30 years in Key West, amassing a small fortune by playing 2-3 gigs a day at joints like Sloppy Joe's, singing bawdy songs that would make tourists on our own Bourbon Street blush. Not exactly Spanish Tinge/Piano Heritage material. And yet, that historical aspect to his character kept eating at him and enriching his soul. He made a trip to nearby Cuba, and this stoked his interest in Ernesto Lecuona and lesser-known masters like Ignacio Cervantes and Manuel Samuell. He can now play more of these fellows' music than practically any gringo alive. Two years ago Barry released a wonderful duet album, "New World Blues Roots," featuring Fess' old conguero, Uganda Roberts. What surprised was not the resonance of piano/congas playing the Cuban melodies, but how good they sounded on archaic blues like "West Dallas Drag" and "Mess Around." On March 3, Barry will expand on this concert, bringing some of his Key West regulars to play along with Roberts at our own Snug Harbor. They will include trumpeter/flugelhornist Kenny Fradley (a former Kid Creole and Celia Cruz sideman), and Kansas City reared drummer Randy Morrow. The Iguanas Joe Cabral will be guesting on sax as well. In short, Barry "ferrets out Afro Cuban-Connections musically and historically, combining that with the entertainment sensibilities of a Cousin Joe or Slim Gaillard." It's a type of fusion that is

Pianist/Vocalist Barry Cuda grew up playing rag and stride piano, and eventually added blues (post graduate listening live to Little Brother Montgomery and Sunnyland Slim). In the mid 70s he discovered Professor Longhair and James Booker and as he puts it, It was all over"! He has spent the last 30 years in Key West, amassing a small fortune by playing 2-3 gigs a day at joints like Sloppy Joe's, singing bawdy songs that would make tourists on our own Bourbon Street blush. Not exactly Spanish Tinge/Piano Heritage material. And yet, that historical aspect to his character kept eating at him and enriching his soul. He made a trip to nearby Cuba, and this stoked his interest in Ernesto Lecuona and lesser-known masters like Ignacio Cervantes and Manuel Samuell. He can now play more of these fellows' music than practically any gringo alive. Two years ago Barry released a wonderful duet album, "New World Blues Roots," featuring Fess' old conguero, Uganda Roberts. What surprised was not the resonance of piano/congas playing the Cuban melodies, but how good they sounded on archaic blues like "West Dallas Drag" and "Mess Around." On March 3, Barry will expand on this concert, bringing some of his Key West regulars to play along with Roberts at our own Snug Harbor. They will include trumpeter/flugelhornist Kenny Fradley (a former Kid Creole and Celia Cruz sideman), and Kansas City reared drummer Randy Morrow. The Iguanas Joe Cabral will be guesting on sax as well. In short, Barry "ferrets out Afro Cuban-Connections musically and historically, combining that with the entertainment sensibilities of a Cousin Joe or Slim Gaillard." It's a type of fusion that is